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A cross-species framework to identify vocal learning abilities in mammals
Andrea Ravignani1, Maxime Garcia2,3
1Comparative Bioacoustics Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Summary
Vocal production learning (VPL) is linked to species deviating from acoustic allometry, but not for size exaggeration as hypothesized. This suggests VPL may evolve through different pathways, offering insights into vocal communication diversity.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Bioacoustics
- Animal communication
Background:
- Vocal production learning (VPL) is the ability to produce novel vocalizations, crucial for speech.
- Acoustic allometry describes how body size influences vocalizations.
- Sexual selection may drive deviations from acoustic allometry, potentially linking to VPL evolution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the hypothesis that deviations from acoustic allometry are linked to the evolution of VPL.
- To explore the relationship between VPL and being an acoustic allometric outlier in a hypothesis-neutral manner.
Main Methods:
- Phylogenetic regressions were used to analyze the link between VPL clades and acoustic allometry.
- Statistical analyses were performed to identify species deviating from expected acoustic scaling.
Main Results:
- Species with VPL show deviations from acoustic allometry, but in a direction not supporting size exaggeration.
- VPL clades exhibit higher vocalization frequencies than predicted by allometric scaling.
- A correlation was found between VPL and being an acoustic allometric outlier.
Conclusions:
- VPL may not have evolved solely through sexual selection for size exaggeration.
- The findings suggest alternative evolutionary pathways for VPL.
- Acoustic allometry outliers above the regression line are potential candidates for VPL species.
